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Mortal Kombat XMinisite Visual Effects

When I was asked by Monastery if I’d like to design a series of videos for a project related to the release of the Mortal Kombat X, the answer was an immediate and ecstatic “Yes!” Being a life-long and one-time hardcore gamer, not to mention a huge fan of the Mortal Kombat series — I jumped into the project with loads of enthusiasm and excitement.

Working closely with Monastery, my task for the Visual Effects was to “wow” Monastery’s client, GoodGame — an eSports marketing company out of San Francisco — I quickly took to task the conceptualization and production of multiple VFX video sequences to be implemented into the header of the Mortal Kombat X launch party minisite thrown by Warner Bros. Games.

The Process

I began creating various elemental effects such as fire, lightning, rain and snow that would be composited over the characters. To add more depth to the videos, support effects such as heat distortion, smoke, embers, sparks and steam were created. To tie it together, the characters were given a subtle “ready” animation — as if the characters were in their fight stance, waiting for that familiar voice to say “Round one…fight!”.

The finishing move

To be considered the finishing move of the minisite, these multiple videos utilizing visual effects based off of the game’s already stunning official key art. Retaining the original art direction and also improving on an already gorgeous looking visual was a task in itself.

The Result

In this case, less truly was more. While I was definitely proud of the work I did on the project, ultimately the client chose an alternate route. In this case, the quality of the work mattered but we still needed to stay more in line with Mortal Kombat X's in-game visuals and effects. Despite having the work rejected by the client — completing the project on a very tight deadline was accomplished through communication, collaboration and an organized, fast paced workflow. It helped prove to the client that we are capable of working on extremely tight deadlines without sacrificing the quality of work.